Monday, July 6, 2009

Bloody bushfires!

Since the Victorian bushfires I've been wondering how the Bolwell population fared, knowing there was reasonable representation in that area going back to the very original Mark 7 building days. Early Bolwells seemed to strike a chord with people working in the brown coal and electricity generation industry for some reason. I didn't hear any negative reports and began to relax a bit but then this morning I read Rick's report in the latest Slipstream. Both Frank Rushton and John Szabo lost their Mark 7s and the sheds they were in , and John lost his whole house. That's terrible news. Both these guys built their Bolwells in the very early days of the Mark 7 and retained them ever since. How must they feel? A bit like Tony Opie, as you know he lost his trusty Mark 7 and a Mark 5 in a South Australian bushfire a season or two earlier.
Below is the Rushton Mark 7 as I remember it, competing at Calder in the Six-hour as part of one of the Bolwell Club teams.
And here is John's Mark 7, same team, same time. Behind is John and the legendary mid-engined, 289 powered Transit van.Here is the same car at an Easter event at Mt. Gambier, complete with the board rack which was bolted through the roof.
I am very sad to have heard this news.

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